This patent application claims priority of Malaysian Patent Application PI 20010657 filed Feb. 14, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein as if set forth at length.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a knockdown wooden chair more particularly to one that is easily knocked down to its component parts or as the case may be easily reassembled into said wooden chair by fixing the components parts together. The invention also relates to the method of constructing the chair from the knockdown condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, wooden chairs having a seat and a back portion, for example, Windsor chairs come in one piece or several pieces or components parts that are to be joined together.
The single piece chairs, that is, chairs that are completely assembled pose a major storage problem where it occupies a large space when stored or transported. For example when the said chairs are to be exported it would increase the cost of the goods since a lot of space is occupied during shipment. Upon arriving at the port, the goods would again occupy a large space when stored in the go down. Expenses are again increased when the trailers shifting the goods from the go-down to the respective place have to make more trips. Due to the storage problems, the goods price may increase 3 or 4 times more than the actual price. In order to overcome the above storage and transportation problem knockdown chairs were devised and utilized and they are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the many prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art of knockdown wooden chairs include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,029xe2x80x94this invention relates to a method of assembling a chair back onto a chair bottom by providing a back portion of material having first and second end portions insertable into the chair bottom, boring a hole longitudinally into the ends of the back members providing a bore transverse to the longitudinal bore on each of the end portions of the chair back, inserting member into the transverse bore, the peg member further including a threaded bore which aligns with the longitudinal bore when the member is positioned therein providing a bolt member insertable into the longitudinal bore from the underside of the chair bottom and threadably engaging the peg member inserted therein and threadably tightening the bolt member so that the bolt member is tightened the chair back end portions are fulled in engagement with the chair bottom.
However the above method of attaching the knockdown chair poses a drawback where the plurality of upright back members between the first and second end portions are not tightly secured where in time they tend to loosen and rotate within the bores. The following document overcomes the above drawback.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,941xe2x80x94this invention relates to a knock down chair which comprises a seat, a backrest and a leg assembly. The backrest has a hoop the tapered ends of which are drawn by bolts into spaced apart holes running through the seat. The backrest has spindles or other members running downwardly to a base plate which is removably attached to the top surface of the seat. The base plate is offset toward the rear of the seat from the plane in which the hoop ends lie. The leg assembly is comprised of two opposing leg frames which are screwed to the bottom of the seat. Rungs of the leg frames are joined by a stretcher rail which is held in place by bolts acting similarly to the bolts of the hoop 5 ends.
The above patent has one big disadvantage where it does not provide the flexibility to have different designs for the backrest. FIG. 1 shows several examples of backrest designs that cannot readily be implemented when the method of knock down according to the above patent is used. This is because the said patent uses a base plate to attach the spindles or other members to the seat. Therefore, it would not be possible to secure the design between the hoop of the backrest. Moreover, the use of screws extending from the underside of the seat will secure the base only for a certain period. After a while, especially after the chair is dragged in and out by the user who handles it, the backrest tends to loosen. The present invention is invented in order to solve the above mentioned problems being applicable for most types of wooden chairs.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a knock down chair that can be knocked down to save storage space or easily assembled providing a secured attachment and also having a backrest of various designs that is permanently fixed to the seat. According to the most general aspect of the invention, there is provided a knock down chair comprising: a backrest; a first seat portion wherein the said backrest is permanently fixed to said first seat portion; a second seat portion to support the user; said first and second seat portions are attached together by means of tongue and groove and secured by screw means placed advantageously to ensure both seat portions remain intact; and leg assembly members detachably fixed to the underside of the attached seat portion.
The invention also relates to a method of assembling a knock down chair comprising: joining first seat portion which includes a backrest permanently attached to said first seat portion, to second seat portion wherein the said two portions are attached together by means of tongue and groove; said attached seat portions are secured by at least two screws extending longitudinally from the rear of the first seat portion through the tongued se Lon into the second seat portion; and the leg assembly members are then secured on the underside of the seat by a plurality of screws.